Patterns of Participation in Secondary Vocational Education. A Report Based on Transcript and Interview Data of the 1979 and 1980 National Longitudinal Survey New Youth Cohort.

Campbell, Paul B.; And Others

A study focused on identifying the patterns of participation in vocational education and relating them to various labor market and postsecondary education participation outcomes. Its purpose was to develop a classification schema for vocational education students. The sample consisted of 3,056 high school qraduates for whom complete high school transcripts for grades 9-12 were available and was part of the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience. Five descriptive concepts/characteristics (intensity, diversity, continuity, proximity, and supportive diversity) were derived to assign students to five types/patterns of participation or profiles: concentrator, limited concentrator, concentrator/explorer, and incidental/personal. Results of the profile matching showed 22% of secondary graduates with no vocational credits, nearly 50% of those who had exposure to vocational education were in the incidental/personal category, less than 2% were identified as explorers, and the other groups collectively accounted for almost 50%. Cluster analyses indicated verification of the proposed pattern types. Sex, race, and family socioeconomic status had an effect on participation. The classification procedure based on transcript data was found to be a workable way to identify patterns of participation in vocational education. (YLB)